


I Know What You're Thinking

by sagilarious



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Accidental Voyeurism, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Masturbation, Mind Meld, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV Alternating, POV Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Psychic Bond, spoilers for season 4!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2017-10-24
Packaged: 2019-01-22 13:59:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12483236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sagilarious/pseuds/sagilarious
Summary: Galaxies away from each other, Keith and Lance find themselves able to read the others thoughts. Does this have something to do with Lance piloting the Red lion? Does Voltron want Keith back on as the red paladin?And why can't either of them stop thinking about that night in Keith’s room?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hello, all! this was meant to be a self-indulgent porn oneshot but it kind of outgrew itself. I hope you enjoy; un-beta'd please excuse any errors on my part.

Forming Voltron after all they've been through in the past few months felt like a breath of fresh air. With Shiro back at its head, it really felt like the good ol’ days to Lance, when he was just fresh from the garrison learning how to fly a _giant lion robot in space!_ The exhilaration was so real, he was riding a high for days.

Of course, his brain had to ruin it for him eventually.

With Shiro taking backup the head, that meant Keith was gone. Lance remembered coming to him, fully ready to be discarded from voltron so recently...it seemed impossible to him that Keith was the odd man out. Being in the blades suited him, though; not just because he was galra or anything, it just..did. His lone wolf tendencies and instinct for danger seemed suited for a sneaky spy job, Lance reasoned. Plus the outfits were cool.

On their next mission, Lance couldn't get the thought of Keith out of his head. The team was rushing to help save a supply ship from a Galra cruiser attempting capture, which was important, but it wasn't what was in his head as he settled into the Red lion. He felt...happy sad. Like the way Keith smiled into the group hug before he left with Kolivan. Pidge has supplied Lance with the word _melancholy_ but Hunk had made a joke about melons and now he couldn't take it seriously so: happy sad.

Lance wondered if he was an imposter sitting in Red’s cockpit as they set out through the stars. She was so much faster than Blue ever was, versatile and wild like Keith could be. Could Lance be wild enough to really belong with her? Or was he just a benchwarmer til Keith got back?

Shiro’s voice came through the comline, calm and confident, “All right team, form Voltron!”

Lance flies into formation, waiting for that tingling feeling he gets when Voltron is about to happen.

…

“Why isn't it working?” Hunk screams into his com. Lance works on taking out some fighters and begins to sweat. Was it him?

 

  * ••



 

There were perks to being with the Blade of Marmora, Keith reasoned with himself.

He had a lot of privacy, outside missions. Kolivan wasn't unfriendly, but he was professional to a fault and from a career as a spy didn't do “opening up.” Even while researching, things were kept quiet at their outposts, as if they worried too much noise would trip off Galra sensors. No, the only time it got loud was when intel lead to _missions,_ and missions there were plenty.

Kolivan and the other blades were trying their best to figure out this secret supply of quintessence being carted around the empire. Where was it coming from? Where were they taking it? And why hide it in the first place? These questions weren't leading to a whole lot of answers, but they did lead to a lot of dead-end missions.

Being a paladin, it's being a pilot most of the time. You ride out in your lion and you fight from there, you kill from there. Being a Blade made everything closer. Close combat, close calls on your life. Keith knew nothing about Kolivan not out of a lack of empathy, but out of a sense of survival; every piece in the Marmora puzzle had to be expendable for it to have survived so long. Primary instinct to live had to take over many, many times.

It sounded worse than it was, and Keith thought it honestly suited him. It was being a part of a team, definitely, but it was being able to give yourself to the greater good in a way being a symbol like Voltron couldn't be. It made everything seem visceral and bright; Keith wouldn't admit it for sounding like a freak, but he craved the rush.

That was why when he'd heard about a recon mission today, he volunteered immediately. Answers to their questions were of course at the forefront of Keith’s mind, not the crunch of Galra sentries under his foot, or the clash of a blade sinking into metal. Those were there too, just buried under the general restlessness.

“This ship just dropped off an unmarked shipment at a Galra outpost, we have reason to believe it's the new quintessence.” Kolivan explained to him from the cockpit of the ship. “The goal is to get the information from the ship’s routing system without being revealed. Got it?”

Keith nodded at him, placing on his mask and hood in preparation for boarding. Their ships were small, but built for speed, and they'd dock soon.

Quiet speed, unlike the explosive quickness of Voltron.

His lion sometimes comes into his head unbidden. Keith hadn't used his skill for piloting in a while working with Kolivan; his fingers sometimes twitch for the control of a ship. Not that an average ship came close to piloting a lion; flying Red for the first time had solidified in Keith’s mind that piloting some inelegant rocket could never come close. Piloting the Black lion, even with the guilt of taking over for Shiro, had felt like freedom itself. Sometimes he misses it.

The ship jolts as it docks onto the galra cargo hold; Kolivan signals him that they have 10 minutes for the retrieval. Keith nods, and they head in.

These are heating ducts they sneak through; their suits immune to the temperatures they moved quickly towards a computer room. Once above it, Kolivan nodded to Keith and dropped through a panel directly onto two sentries below.

Keith waited a count of three before following, mindful of the still-sparking sentries lying crushed on the ground.

“Hide them,” Kolivan ordered as he plugged something into the glowing console in front of him. Keith grabbed as much of the robot’s corpses as he could in one trip, trying to glare them into being lighter; one thing he never had to do as a paladin was _clean up their mess._ That was the perk of not having to sneak around, he reasoned while shoving the parts into a corner supply closet. While he came back to grab the rest, Kolivan was still typing away.

Keith made quick work of the second trip, but did a double take as another sentry came down the hall to enter the console room. “Shit!” he whispered automatically, unsheathing his knife and jumping the big thing. It armored face had just turned to Keith as he drove his dagger through it with a crunch. An alarm began blaring. Kolivan was looking at him, mask unreadable.

“Fuck, how--” Keith started. “Sight-activated alarm. They've updated their sentry hardware. We have to go.” Kolivan interrupted, grabbing the panel they came through while climbing upwards. Keith followed on instinct.

They rushed their way through the ducts towards the ship, all the while hearing that damn alarm, and the sound of metallic feet against the ship's floor marching in unison. Keith knew what was ahead of them; a long stretch of catwalk where they could be attacked before reaching their ship at all. He kept his knife unsheathed.

When they reached their opening, Kolivan paused for a breath, and then leapt out. Keith followed suit, to the sound of sentry fire.

 

  * ••



 

Everyone was _super_ freaking out, which was not helping. Lance couldn't stop himself from also freaking out.

“I don't understand,” Shouted Allura as she took out fighters surrounding the cargo ship, “we've formed Voltron before! why can't we do it now?”

“Something's gotta be off,” Shiro added, sounding upset. “You guys have only formed with me in the Black Lion once before, maybe Voltron doesn't--”

“Don't be stupid, Shiro!” Pidge says, with the confidence of someone not like 10 years younger than their leader. “If you can pilot the lion, of course you're meant to form voltron with it. Maybe we just aren't focused enough yet!”

“I don't see why we wouldn't be!” Hunk said in a shrill voice, pounding his lion against the main ship’s hull. “This is sort of life or death, **as usual!** ”

Lance stayed quiet as his heart beat in his ears. Oh god, was it him? Did Red want Keith back? He knew he wasn't meant to be the hot-headed Red Lion pilot! He’d never even touched a sword before! How was he supposed to be voltron’s sword? Keith was the sharp one, all instinct and always first in his pilot class and lone-wolfy. Lance didn't like being alone; Lance loved attention more than anything!

“We have to try again, guy.” Shiro panted, and he was right. “Let’s form up!”

The lion’s flew in formation. Lance’s breathing felt labored, his heart was in his throat as he pleaded with god and universe for Voltron to think of him as Keith; he could save these people if only he was _him. Keith is here,_ Lance thought irrationally, _he’s always a part of the team even when he's gone. He’s the right hand, the sword, and we can form_ **_VOLTRON_ **

His last thought echoed in his head like a memory of the red paladin’s voice. Voltron came together.

 

  * ••



 

Keith had been hit. It wasn't much, but it was his dominant arm that was stinging like crazy and bleeding a little, so his accuracy was down.

That's how he found himself alone in the cargo hold surrounded by sentries.

Kolivan had made it onto the ship with the intel, and undocked. Luckily, a few of the Galra bots were blown into the vacuum of space when he did, so Keith wasn't _as_ outnumbered as he was before.

Keith was still outnumbered and alone on a Galra ship. He knew from his training that Kolivan would wait two minutes at a safe distance, then take off.

He was expendable, like all other members of the blade of marmora. His arm aches as he aimed a stolen blaster at several sentries, they went down. Being a former paladin didn't get him special treatment, of course. Neither did being half-human, in a vast universe, it made sense. Every part of the Blade was built around strategy; Kolivan wouldn't be coming to his rescue lest they lose two members instead of one. It was statistics.

Keith flips over a sentry with his body weight and shoots it with its own gun. Being a part of a whole bigger than yourself...there were different ways to do it. It could be like the Blade of Marmora, where the whole was an amorphous mass, working towards a goal that did not include its pieces, or. It could be like Voltron, he snarled and threw one sentry at the other with enough force to topple them both.

Unbidden, he thought of that night when Lance had come to his room. He’d never had Lance in his room; it's still a jarring thing to picture, Lance, coming to him as a leader (no, as a _friend_ ). Offering him the Red lion on a plate, out of his misguided insecurities but still. Flying Red again. Feeling that connection to the universe, to his friends and feeling important.

Keith was running toward the airlock. Had it been more than two minutes? It had felt important, joining the Blade of Marmora. It's his mysterious heritage, taking up a mantle no one asked him to. Being expendable, now, didn't feel important. Keith was young, and his mind was screaming _survive, survive, survive_

His fist slammed into the airlock controls. It opened its wide, mechanical maw to the deep black of space. Keith pushed off the sentries flying out of the ship; he had to head east of this airlock to find Kolivan in his ship. His breathing was haggard as he got visuals on the ship far-off, looking like it would take off any moment.

If i was in Red, Keith thought, I’d be able to fly circles around that ship and still make it. He wasn't in Red, though. He wasn't a paladin anymore. Shiro was, Lance was. They deserved it more than him. He was doing this for his friends, his paladins. He wasn't risking it all for the Blades, or for the universe; he was doing it for **_VOLTRON_ **.

Keith held his breath and boosted all his suits power to its jet pack. As he approached at breakneck speed, the hull opened for him and he crashed into the floor. The doors closed just as quickly, and his body shuddered with the speed of the ship’s retreat. He breathed, feeling like a phantom limb the sensation of Voltron in his mind.

 

  * ••



 

The high coming off that mission was settling onto Lance like his dewy skin after a facial. He couldn't stop grinning, hugging Hunk, attempting to hug Pidge and being pushed. He even got a little fist-bump out of Shiro! It felt good, and he could tell Red felt good too. He wasn't sure what had changed, but after they formed voltron she seemed...excited? Smug? Smug in an adorable way, Lance thought hurriedly, since he didn't want to be rude to his new girl.

His arm was aching for some reason, though.

As they all relaxed in the kitchen later, stomachs full and bodies relaxed, Allura calls them over to the command room to talk to Kolivan.

They've been working much closer with the Blades now that Keith was with them full-time; getting briefings as often as their own members did. It was pretty cool to have the secret resistance spies telling you info whenever, Lance thought as he scratched at his arm. He hadn't seen a bruise, but one must be forming under the skin.

The big holographic screen blipped to life in front of their group. Shiro and Allura exchanged pleasantries with Kolivan, ever in his skin-tight badass catsuit armor. Lance wondered if they were allowed pajamas on the Blade of Marmora base, or if they just slept in those.

Blah, blah, they were talking about some intel stuff. His arm gave a painful throb, which was distracting. Lance felt his attention splitting between sensations, weirdly: he'd gotten better at focusing since becoming a universe-saving paladin after all. But he really wasn't listening to Kolivan or Shiro at all, he was thinking about his arm. He was weirdly thinking about...death? Why was he thinking about death right now? He needed to get a grip!

Drawing his attention to the screen again, he saw Keith enter the frame with a bandaged bicep. Several things happen in his head at once: he sees out of body, the view from the Blade of Marmora headquarters through the screen projection of the castle of lions. He can see what they all look like, small and far away and on a completely different ship, and he can see his own expression looking more and more _surprised._

Keith has been sleeping, but was woken up with thoughts of victory. They mixed oddly with his contemplation of his own mortality; but he was glad his arm was just fractured and would be fine soon. The pain meds were wearing off, but he had wanted to see his friends before Kolivan finished talking them through what they had found out about quintessence.

He could see from inside the castle. He felt surprised, obviously. Why did this surprise feel so weird? _What the fuck?_

 _WHAT THE FUCK._ Lance let out a slightly crazy sounding laugh. “Um, is anyone else hearing Keith talk without moving his MOUTH?!”

The paladins, Coran and Kolivan all looked at him. “Like, this is a prank right?” Lance panicked, thinking in a flash about the red lion--is he really its pilot--is Keith’s arm ok--stop fucking with him asshole. Keith _knows_ he thinks that.

“I can hear your thoughts.” Keith says blankly, in shock. Lance laughs louder, hysterically “THAT’S. Not at possibility, buddy! You're two galaxies away, and Galra don't have mind reading powers, hAHAHAha...they don't do they?!”

“Of course not! Especially not at that range,” Coran pointed out.

“OH, WHAT A RELIEF!” Lance shouts.

“Hmm.” Kolivan states. “Keith, do you feel ill at all?”

Keith shakes his head. “No, i'm just fine. My arm’s sore but that's it. I can just. I can see what Lance is seeing.” He states, attempting to steady his voice. First he’s half galra, and now he's a telepath? what else can he check off the freak list?

Kolivan looks more curious than concerned, which is a good sign. “You should get to the med bay, see if it's a bad sign or not. Might this have something to do with your connection to Voltron?”

Keith thinks, in tandem to Lance, about this evening’s fight. Sentries explode, fighters are shot down, but both of them end up thinking about the time they spoke in Keith’s room.

Keith feels Lance’s embarrassment, Lance feels Keith’s gratitude and... _affection_?

“This is really distracting! It's like i've got two brains in my one head!!” Lance whines to Coran, “I have been flying Red, you don't think she's trying to replace me with Keith again is she?”

“It's certainly possible,” Coran says, twirling his mustache. “But then you wouldn't have been able to form Voltron without Keith here would you? We should take you to the medbay immediately as well!” Coran began shoving him along while the others stared and made comments Lance could hardly focus on.

Shiro said above the others, “You should go too, Keith. Kolivan can finish debriefing us on the new quintessence shipment routes.”

Keith and Lance were both ushered away. Both were trying very hard to think casual thoughts, which lead to Keith going over combat drills in his head, and Lance thinking of the beach, or how he went through a phase where he really wanted to learn card tricks but he lost his ace of hearts so how could he use it to impress anyone cute? _two of hearts wasn't nuanced enough for flirting; it was just tackey._

Keith snorted, which made the nurse in the sick bay look at him funny. Lance huffed, “I can hear you laughing at me!”

Coran looks at Lance, “I didn't say anything,”

Lance groaned “No sorry i was, talking to. Keith.” Coran gave him a curious look. “Interesting power, this is. Like an extreme walkie talkie, I’d say!”

“Now, did anything feel different when you formed voltron today?” Coran said to him as he poked and prodded at Lance’s ribs. Lance thought about it, and sighed before admitting “I think I messed up our formation today.”

Coran stuck a stethoscope in his left ear. “Oh?”

“I kept…I kept thinking about how Keith didn't have a lion anymore.” Lance said, trying not to think about how he was broadcasting everything to Keith as he spoke about him. “I was thinking how it wasn't fair. The Red lion represents so much about him i felt..like a benchwarmer. Like Red shouldn't work for me.”

Keith felt so many emotions at once, Lance wondered how he kept his face so straight all the time. He felt sadworriedgrateful? Lance was having a hard time interpreting, but could still weirdly _feel_ Keith’s feelings anyway. Coran just rubbed his chin. “And Keith? What was happening for him at that time?”

Keith’s thoughts barreled into Lance’s consciousness like an explosion: _Sentries, expendable, survive survive survive, Kolivan’s back turned to Keith, the ship taking off, who do i fight for? who will i die for? friends, Red, Voltron._

Lance sniffled, his nose was running. His eyes, coincidentally, were glassy but he blinked at Coran anyway and he didn't comment. “Keith almost _died_ today. Are Blade missions always--no it's. We were both thinking about the team.” _each other_ , they both thought. “and Red, and piloting her with Voltron. I know the lions get into your head sometimes...is this her?”

Keith began speaking to the nurse in the sick bay, telling them the very basic specifics of it all. He seemed out of his depth, gave Keith some medicine for the pain in his arm. Keith heard Coran speak through Lance’s thoughts, which wasn't so much hearing as getting a general impression of what Lance processed. Something about Red connecting the two paladins that have flown her? Keith felt a pang of longing, did Red miss him?

He was already walking towards his bunk when Lance was attempting to reply. He tried to think at him; world's weirdest walkie-talkie right? _Tell Coran I think that sounds right,_ Keith tried. Lance felt surprised, contemplative. _Don’t tell me what to do_ , Lance responded as best he could, the image of him sticking his tongue out sent as an afterthought, or an over thought?

Telepathy was confusing. Keith thought about stabbing Lance in the tongue, and felt him yelp aloud. “FINE! Keith says you're probably right, and also threatened me in my _own brain_. Which is just rude.” Lance told Coran with his arms crossed.

Coran laughed and gave him a pat on the back. “Well, i'll run some tests on the Red Lion. In the meantime, your brain looks just fine! No chance of blood clots or aneurysm through overexertion of psychic powers, so rest up Lance!”

“That's comforting,” Lance grumbled, but he left anyway. Keith had made it to his own quarters, and was valiantly attempting to not think. Lance appreciated the effort, feeling both his own exhaustion and Keith’s too.

As they both approached their respective rooms, Lance paused in the doorway. _So we can read each other's minds._

Keith opened his own room, walking towards a shelf and started taking apart his armor. He felt awkward, but granted Lance’s thought acknowledgement.

 _How am I gonna keep you from knowing all my secrets now?_ Lance thought with a weird mix of amusement and despair. Keith just raised an eyebrow at that, placing down his knife; _do you have secrets?_

Lance pouted, but couldn't think of anything funny to say in response. His mind wandered as he lay down on his bunk to earlier thoughts _. Do you get pajamas there?_

Keith, who was staring at some spot on the roof, felt confusion, amusement, irritation. _I sleep in my boxers_ , he answered.

Lance tucked himself into his bed, jeans and all. He smirked, _I knew they didn't give you cool spy pajamas_ , and promptly fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is where the Explicit rating begins, in case you were wondering. A bit of a short one; but the next chapter will be up soon!

Keith woke up some hours later with his bladder full. Fumbling through the afterthoughts of some dream or other, involving balloons, he saw his earthtime-equivalent clock tell him it was 2:14AM and promptly stumbled into his en-suite bathroom. Toilet seat was already up, but the light still burned his eyes so he took his time. Something was making him feel sweaty tonight even in the cool room, he thought as he flushed the toilet and washed his hands. Keith felt a finger enter his asshole and froze.

Ok, he was awake. He grabbed at the air behind him on reflex, and found it empty; it wasn't his finger  _ or  _ his asshole. He became aware the sweat wasn't his own either. Keith’s brain caught up to the fact that Lance was a million light years away fingering himself.

_ Oh my god _ , Keith thought as he clutched at his bathroom counter, white knuckled. 

_ Oh my god _ , Lance thought as he drooled on his pillow, blissfully unaware.  _ Yesyesyes, hold me down, right there, oh god,  _

Keith could feel his face on fire without meeting his reflection. Oh god, what did he do? Lance hadn't noticed he was awake had he? Heat began pooling low in his stomach as Lance stifles a whimper into his pillow, hand speeding up on his dick as his finger finds his prostate. Lance  _ definitely _ didn't know he was awake.

_ Ohhh, my god, use me like that yesyes close,  _ Keith might die. He’s thinking a lot at about 100 miles an hour; He can't believe Lance hasn't noticed him yet. He tries thinking something distracting, obviously not from Lance’s mind. He thinks about his desert home, his old bike. The raggedy couch he loved. Lance doesn't notice and is now thinking about fucking in his old house which,  _ dude _ . That's a visual he won't be scrubbing clean for a few years; and Keith  _ needs Lance to stop now. _

**_“Lance.”_ ** Keith says, and thinks, at his own red-faced expression in the mirror. He becomes viscerally aware of Lance cumming  _ hard  _ and  _ oh my fucking god.  _ That's something to process, even while his body is shaking with borrowed arousal. 

Lance’s thoughts are jumbled for a solid minute, before the afterglow leaves room for all-encompassing humiliation.  _ Oh my god _ , Lance thinks. Keith feels his face heat up, too.  _ I tried to get your attention _ , he starts as another wave of mortification hits him. 

_ Oh my god, is that why, your shitty desert shack, felt like someone was watching, oh my gooooddd, i think i should die now _ , Lance thinks miserably.  _ I’m just a growing boy who has needs! you were very asleep! Mary mother of jesus has shamed me, this is my punishment for sinning, please let the ground swallow me whole. _

Keith has no idea how to react to any of that. He’s not the most socially inept, but someone cumming to your voice in their head accidentally as you peep on them is. A lot.  _ I was asleep, I just had to piss _ , he tries.

_ Oh thank god I wasn't jerking off to getting pissed on, _ Lance thinks. Keith viscerally pictures Lance on his knees, mouth open tongue out as someone whips out their dick and  _ DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT WHEN YOU JERK OFF?! _

Lance sputters, defensive,  _ NO of course not i would never, you know i can see what you're thinking right?! Are you turned on or something?! _ Keith involuntarily looks at the tent in his boxers. Lance squeaks,  **_you're gay?!?!?!_ **

_ I’m bi _ , Keith thinks tiredly.  _ And i just felt you cum in my brain, i guess. Don't think  _ **_i'm_ ** _ the weird one.  _

Lance takes some deep breaths, thinking something vague about a yoga class he'd taken on earth years before.  _ Hey, I’m bi, too? _ he tries, after a few seconds of trying to clear his mind and achieve nirvana. Keith smiles a little, despite himself.  _ Cool _ , he thinks.  _ I’m just. I’m still super tired.  _ He’ll deal with more of all of this in the morning,  _ Sorry, by the way. _

Lance feels confused, as Keith turns off his bathroom light and climbs back into his dark bed.  _ You have no reason to be sorry, Keith. _ He closes his eyes, feeling warm under his blankets.  _ Goodnight, Lance. _

_ Goodnight, Keith _ .

 

  * ••



 

Eating his breakfast goop, Lance is accosted by a Pidge on a mission. 

Pidge mumbled some sort of greeting while holding what looked like a satellite in one hand, attached to a weird machine strapped to her back. She was waving it over his head, up and down. Lance swallowed his mouthful of food and offered, “Can I help you?”

“Actually!” Pidge says, louder than before. “Please stand, spread your arms, good, thanks,” as she continued her waving, Hunk trailed behind her on a laptop. Coran teetered not far behind. 

“What do the readings look like, Pidge?” Coran asks, leaning over her. 

“Promising. Lance, are you communicating with Keith right now?” Pidge asked suspiciously.

“Right now? Nah,” Lance admits, dropping his awkwardly raised arms. “Like, he's there but he's busy training right now.”

Mentioning him in conversation seemed to peak Keith’s interest, their conscious thoughts seeming to brush? Lance could feel his friend’s awareness of his heart rate and breathing as he ran through some basic sparring. Keith and Lance had been attempting to not talk (think) about what had happened the previous night, which meant both pretending the other wasn't in their head at all times. Mostly Lance had just been weirdly aware of where Keith was all the time.

Now that they had acknowledged each other, there was an inevitable flash of memory. Lance whimpering into his pillow, Keith’s knuckles white on the bathroom sink, oh god wait  _ did Keith know what his dick looked like now? _

“HEY KEITH.” Lance said aloud while he thought it, to break that particular train of thought. “How’s it hangin’?”  _ Shit, there's a dick joke there, _ Lance noted ruefully.

Hunk look at his (probably red) face questioningly. “Do you have to speak for him to hear you?” he asked as Keith thought back  _ please stop thinking about dicks, i’m fine not thinking about it at all til you suddenly started with the moaning replay again! _

Lance’s thoughts flashed in irritation;  _ that was definitely you thinking that, not me!  _ “No, of course not.” he said aloud through gritted teeth. “I just have no idea what i’m doing, i’ve only been psychic for a day!” 

“That's not what psychic means, Lance.” Pidge notes while holding the satellite up to his head. Keith feels embarrassedannoyedexcited at Lance’s accusation;  _ you thought it first!  _

Lance has a biting comeback lined up and ready to fly through his definitely psychic powers when Hunk and Coran let out a joyful sound. Pidge looks like she's about to hop in place, “What does the reading look like?”

“Just as you postulated, Pidge! The two are linked through a traceable path of quintessence when their thoughts are linked, converging at a third point through the Red Lion!” Coran exclaimed as Lance’s mind attempted to wrestle with Keith’s awareness, Coran’s accent, and the weird space science they were talking.

_ Traceable?  _ Keith thought immediately through the fog in Lance’s mind, feeling fearguiltworry, thinking of the very secret base he was currently living in.  _ If I’m traceable in anyway, i have to get out of here. _

“If we can trace Keith to the Blade of Marmora headquarters that's  _ probably _ bad,” Lance told the others, feeling Keith’s panic settle into his chest. Coran nodded at this while Pidge and Hunk typed away. “True, a path of quintessence this long will certainly attract attention after a bit. I’d recommend keeping you two in close quarters for safety; I’ll contact the princess about having Keith back with us until we can get you two disconnected.”

“I mean it's not like we didn't already know the location ourselves,” Pidge added “So tell Keith not to freak out. He should come to the castle though, maybe being around the Red lion could help?” 

Lance was aware of Keith making his way from the training deck to Kolivan with grim determination. “I’m sure the Blades will agree on that front,” Lance answered. 

 

  * ••



 

After a lengthy explanation of the situation by Keith, and another space-age skype call with Kolivan and Allura, Keith found himself piloting a ship out into deep space.

Both groups had agreed that the situation was precarious, and the safest place for Keith to be without revealing the location of both the Blades AND the Castle of Lions was with Voltron, which was already its own beacon of quintessence. So Keith packed up, and had to leave. It was strange, to say the least; he felt like he had gotten let go in a way. His training with the Marmora had been going well, and he wasn't dissatisfied there but here he was, watching it shrink away into the quiet black of space.

It wasn't lost on him, anytime he piloted a ship since finding Blue and the Castle and Voltron, that this was what he had wanted to do before dropping out. This was what the pilot class at the garrison was for, anyway; the next generation of space explorers navigating the human race beyond their stars. He doubted his professors had the imagination to think up giant lion ship robots becoming a larger, vaguely humanoid super-robot ship though.

He felt humor run through him, but it was Lance’s not his own. Keith didn't realize Lance was paying attention, felt a little shy.  _ Didn't mean to pry, _ Lance insisted, _ just couldn't help imagining the Voltron training exam at the galaxy garrison. _ Lance thought up a caricature of their professor, and mimicked  _ you didn't form Voltron because your souls weren't in-sync enough! Remember that quintessence runs through your spiritual life-blood, not your formulaic mind! _

Keith let out a huff of breath, amused.  _ Is that how Voltron works now _ , he thought mostly rhetorically. Imagining someone teach Voltron to groups of bored teens  _ was _ ridiculous enough to warrant laughter. A little selfishly, Keith thought that being a paladin was too special a job for just any old pilot. Lance hummed in agreement, though he teased,  _ cocky much? _

Keith smirked, adjusting his grip of the ship’s controls,  _ says the guy who called me his rival. _ Lance felt indignant at that, searching his brain for a decent comeback that left him silent for a while.  _ Yeah, well...you've got a mullet! _

Keith didn't grace that with a response. The trip in the small ship he'd been afforded would take around 8 more hours, so he set the course patiently and relaxed back into his chair a bit. Lance wasn't doing much on his end either, playing that weird game Pidge and he had found at that space mall. Their awareness of each other waned, white noise in the background of a quiet afternoon.


End file.
